Soccer | MLS: Early burst helps Crew move into first place

Sunday

Jul 31, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 31, 2011 at 10:41 AM

SANDY, Utah - It's hard to figure which is more improbable: that a Crew team struggling to score dominated an opponent that rarely loses at home, or that the Crew now sits alone atop the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference standings.

SANDY, Utah — It’s hard to figure which is more improbable: that a Crew team struggling to score dominated an opponent that rarely loses at home, or that the Crew now sits alone atop the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference standings.

No matter the answer, those were the facts last night as the Crew scored twice in the opening 10 minutes and stunned Real Salt Lake 2-0.

Eddie Gaven and Tommy Heinemann each scored on crosses from Robbie Rogers before many of the 18,516 in attendance had sat down, and the Crew became just the second visiting team in 40 MLS matches to win in Rio Tinto Stadium.

“This is quite an accomplishment for the team,” Rogers said. “It’s about time we kind of jell and make a push toward the end of the season.”

The Crew entered the game averaging just 1.05 goals, but it connected on its first two scoring opportunities.

Rogers got behind Salt Lake defender Robbie Russell in the fifth minute and sent a cross to an open Gaven, who knocked it in just inside the right post for his second goal in two games.

Five minutes later, Dejan Resmir found Rogers, who sent a similar pass from the left side that Heinemann headed off of goalkeeper Nick Rimando’s hands and across the goal line.

“The keeper got a hand on it, but it snuck in,” Heinemann said of his second goal of the season. “It was a big goal, go up 2-0 on Salt Lake on their home field.”

Heinemann raced to the Crew bench and celebrated his second goal of the season with the reserves.

“When you score on the road, there’s nothing better than hearing just silence,” Heinemann said. “ We’re a team. I just wanted us to celebrate with each other.”

It was instant offense for a team that barely seemed to recognize the term over the past month. The Crew had scored just two goals in five MLS matches entering last night and ranked 14th in the 18-team league in scoring.

The result propelled the Crew (9-6-7) into sole possession of first place with 34 points, three points clear of Philadelphia with 12 games remaining.

The victory should put to rest some questions about the Crew’s legitimacy as a contender.

“There’s still a lot of soccer to be played,” Gaven said. “But we definitely feel good about how this team is going right now. We just have to keep on going, keep on continuing to work hard.”

The Crew, playing without five injured starters, took advantage of Real Salt Lake’s patchwork back line, which was without injured starters Jamison Olave and Tony Beltran.

“Salt Lake, even without Olave, has a good team,” Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. “We have so many injuries. … We came here to play our best game, and we were rewarded for our hard work.”

Crew keeper Andy Gruenebaum recorded his second consecutive shutout, in place of injured starter William Hesmer.

Gruenebaum did not face a shot on goal in the first half. Salt Lake turned up the pressure after halftime, but many runs ended with a missed connection and without a shot.

Salt Lake (9-4-6) lost for the second time at home this season and is 42-6-19 in all matches since Rio Tinto opened in 2008. .